On August 1st, 1981, MTV began its broadcast with the "futuristic" video for the Buggles song Video Killed the Radio Star. With that, the future of music was changed forever.
In their book The 1980s: American Popular Culture Through History , Bob Batchelor and Scott Stoddart note that expectations changed, as musicians were now prompted to be music television stars. Once content to record music and gain notoriety through touring and radio, bands could now be broadcast into living rooms across the country, adding another dimension to their popularity.They had the ability to influence viewers with their fashion choices and visual style in addition to their musical technique.
Bands that convincingly entertained audiences through music video saw soaring success. Here are a few of the standout musicians who rose to the new challenges MTV presented:
Madonna
A trained dancer with an expressive face, Madonna used her videos to showcase her ever-changing style and push the envelope. Her wardrobe in early videos featured leather jackets, lace gloves, layered netted tops and a plethora of jewelry, from dangle earrings to stacked bracelets. With tousled blond hair and black ankle boots, she danced across the screen, singing and posing with fervor.
As her style continued to evolve, so did her videos, and she constantly pushed the boundaries by raising questions of female power and sexuality. Parents may not have been thrilled with her cutting-edge allure, but young audiences copied her style and responded to the striking images in her videos.
In The 1980s: American Popular Culture Through History, Batchelor and Stoddart note that through her videos, Madonna carefully crafted her image with strong visuals, aware of the strategic light in which she was presented. On a purely entertaining level, her dancing and fashion choices were enough to captivate viewers, and her flair for the dramatic made her an effective performer.
Cyndi Lauper
In the video for Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Lauper is a rebellious character who collects a small parade of friends and acquaintances on the streets of the city, then to the astonishment of her parents, brings them back to her home for an impromptu dance party in her bedroom. The video featured then-cutting edge editing techniques and won the first ever Video Music Award for Best Female Video in 1984.
Lauper's videos were enjoyable precisely because they were little stories in themselves, featuring a recurring cast of characters that included her Mom Catrine, wrestler Captain Lou Albano (who played her father in Girls Just Want to Have Fun), and her manager/boyfriend David Wolff. Viewers waited for these individuals to emerge in each video, always with humor and personality secondary only to that of Cyndi herself.
In their book The 1980s: American Popular Culture Through History , Bob Batchelor and Scott Stoddart note that expectations changed, as musicians were now prompted to be music television stars. Once content to record music and gain notoriety through touring and radio, bands could now be broadcast into living rooms across the country, adding another dimension to their popularity.They had the ability to influence viewers with their fashion choices and visual style in addition to their musical technique.
Bands that convincingly entertained audiences through music video saw soaring success. Here are a few of the standout musicians who rose to the new challenges MTV presented:
Madonna
A trained dancer with an expressive face, Madonna used her videos to showcase her ever-changing style and push the envelope. Her wardrobe in early videos featured leather jackets, lace gloves, layered netted tops and a plethora of jewelry, from dangle earrings to stacked bracelets. With tousled blond hair and black ankle boots, she danced across the screen, singing and posing with fervor.
As her style continued to evolve, so did her videos, and she constantly pushed the boundaries by raising questions of female power and sexuality. Parents may not have been thrilled with her cutting-edge allure, but young audiences copied her style and responded to the striking images in her videos.
In The 1980s: American Popular Culture Through History, Batchelor and Stoddart note that through her videos, Madonna carefully crafted her image with strong visuals, aware of the strategic light in which she was presented. On a purely entertaining level, her dancing and fashion choices were enough to captivate viewers, and her flair for the dramatic made her an effective performer.
Cyndi Lauper
In the video for Girls Just Want to Have Fun, Lauper is a rebellious character who collects a small parade of friends and acquaintances on the streets of the city, then to the astonishment of her parents, brings them back to her home for an impromptu dance party in her bedroom. The video featured then-cutting edge editing techniques and won the first ever Video Music Award for Best Female Video in 1984.
Lauper's videos were enjoyable precisely because they were little stories in themselves, featuring a recurring cast of characters that included her Mom Catrine, wrestler Captain Lou Albano (who played her father in Girls Just Want to Have Fun), and her manager/boyfriend David Wolff. Viewers waited for these individuals to emerge in each video, always with humor and personality secondary only to that of Cyndi herself.
Comments